Latest reading: Fremont County no longer in drought

Many of neighboring counties still in drought

This image, taken from the United States Drought Monitor's website, shows Fremont County outside of drought status. (Courtesy Photo)

Today's Forecast

Here is today's forecast, according to the National Weather Service

Today

A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly between noon and 5 p.m. Partly sunny, with a high near 78. Calm wind becoming east southeast around five mph in the afternoon. New rainfall amounts between one-tenth and one-quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Tonight

A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 58. East wind around five mph becoming west northwest in the evening. New rainfall amounts of less than one-tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Everybody cheer — Fremont County is no longer in a drought.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor's latest reading that was released Thursday morning with information taken Tuesday, 60 percent of Colorado is outside of drought conditions, and that includes Fremont County.

Peggy Perales is a meteorologist for the National Weather Service based in Pueblo. She said Cañon City has received about 15.7 inches so far in 2014, and that already has surpassed the 30-year average of 13 inches. In 2013, the city received just only 11.95 inches.

Much of neighboring Pueblo and Saguache counties are still in droughts. To the south, Custer County isn't in drought status, but Huerfano County, south of Custer, is still in one.

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"Yes, it's good news, but to your east, west and south, everyone is still in drought status," Perales said. "For you guys, the next time they do this could change. Right now, you're doing fine, but you're still pretty precarious because it's a new thing."

A chunk of Kiowa County is still in "D4 status," which means it's in an exceptional drought, and smaller portions of Bent, Otero and Crowley counties are in D4. That's one step further than D3, which is considered an extreme drought.

About 60 percent of Colorado is listed out of the drought. At this time in 2013, the entire state was in some stage of drought.

The recent rainfall in Fremont County didn't factor into the Drought Monitor's latest conclusions because the soil sample data already had been collected. As of Thursday morning, Cañon City has received 0.6 inches of precipitation since Tuesday. Most of that (0.5 inches) was overnight Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

The rainy conditions should ease up this afternoon, Perales said. Through the weekend, we'll only have about a 10 percent chance of rain, she said, but that will be more of a scattered thunderstorms type of condition rather than the recent weather system that has seemed to sit on top of the area and slowly dump water.